Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation
This article on “New Beginnings at the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation” appeared in the November 2023 Washtenaw Jewish News.
Photo of the AARC Beit Sefer at The Farm on Jennings. The shofar-blowing team was led by Rav Gavrielle, Evan Friedman (Head Teacher), and Madrichah Mollie Meadow on the ram’s horn.
(Sept 17, 2023)
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The AARC Beit Sefer religious school spent a super fun Sunday morning at the Humane Society learning about the Jewish value of taking care of all earth’s creatures. Guided by the Humane Society staff, the students learned about the mission of the Humane Society as well as what it means to be a good caregiver to your animals. Part of the kids service project was to spend time with the animals, reading to them and keeping them company. They took turns in the cat rooms and the dog rooms sitting by the animals cages, calmly reading to them and showing them the pictures. The animals really liked it!
In preparation for this Mitzvah Day, the students baked and sold kosher style dog and cat biscuits to members of the congregation. The students used the proceeds from the sale to give a donation to the Humane Society. Families also brought blankets and towels as a donation to the facility.
It was a lovely morning and such a joy to watch the kids spread their love to all of the creatures at the Huron Valley Humane Society!
Thanks to AARC Beit Sefer (religious school) director Marcy Epstein for this article in the March 2023 Washtenaw Jewish News. For a clearer view of the article see the Washtenaw Jewish News online, page 9.
Hi, I’m Evan! I’m from Oak Park, Illinois, and recently finished my undergraduate degree in International Relations at the University of Michigan, where I also studied Hebrew for 3 years. Growing up, I was an active member of my home congregation, Oak Park Temple, where I was a bar mitzvah and confirmation student, teacher’s assistant, summer camp counselor, and eventually taught a Hebrew/early b’nai mitzvah class. I was also a camper and staff member at Olin Sang Ruby Union Institute summer camp (URJ OSRUI) in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin for years.
I wanted to join Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation because it is clear to me that, much like the congregation that I grew up with, this is a wonderful community that values togetherness, learning, and an openness of spirit and thought. I’ve found a home in Ann Arbor over the past few years and my fortune continues in finding AARC, where I hope to keep learning, growing, and connecting with my Judaism.
I’ve had an awesome first two weeks and am looking forward to more!
Thanks,
Evan
Marcy Epstein sure has hit the ground running as the new director of Beit Sefer! Every week has been packed full of thoughtful, intentional, rich Jewish learning and lots of Jewish food!
So far our school has gone on a Sukkot campout, learned to make Challah, practiced Jewish dancing, and celebrated Simchat Torah! This is all in addition to spending time at the JCC learning Hebrew with Shani and studying Torah. This upcoming weekend we will be headed out to Wasem Orchards to pick apples while learning about the Garden of Eden and Abraham’s journey to Canaan!
Enjoy the pictures from the year so far and spread the word about our new robust Beit Sefer programming, its tons of fun!
Photo Credit to many members of the Beit Sefer Mom Squad (Tara Cohen, Naomi Levin, Brenna Reichman, Carol Levin, Gillian Jackson, and Marcy Epstein!)
It’s the end of the Shmita year, the 7th year in the ancient Jewish agricultural justice tradition in which debts are forgiven, the enslaved are released, and our fields are released from cultivation. Traditionally we gather at Sukkot to conclude the year, and begin a new cycle full of intent for growing justice, solidarity and community resilience. Join us on Saturday October 8 at the beautiful Farm On Jennings for study, imagining your personal and communal next 7 year cycle, and to volunteer in the fields for a fall farm cleanup.
The Farm on Jennings has been fallow all season, due to illness in the family, and our work will assist the farmers in re-gathering all the pieces of the farm that were released this year. We’ll weed the perennial food forest, harvest pears, and weed the hoop house. This is a unique opportunity to actually see what it must have been like to reclaim food-growing and cultivation after a year in which farming was not done. RSVP Required.
This event is not for families with children younger than 15 due to farm safety issues, and please do leave your beloved dogs at home for this!
Where: The Farm on Jennings 6900 Jennings Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Dates: Study and Farm Re-Cultivation: Saturday, October 8.
Shmita program 9:30 – 10:45; Farm Volunteering 11 – 3.
Farm Volunteering Only: Sunday, October 9, 10 – 2.
Please wear waterproof boots, long pants and long-sleeved shirt, bring a hat, and gloves if you want to wear them while working. Please bring a journal and one personal object meaningful to you in this past year for the study/visioning session.
Parking is available in the circular driveway and along Jennings Road. Simple Farm lunch provided.
2-4pm Sukkot building and tent settling! (Dave and Martin) *Option to help AARC help spruce up Carol’s farm, Shmita celebration* Tools, more people to come learn how to set up a sukkah!
3-4pm Search for schach with Parents! (snippers, any beautiful boughs from your property to share, and your children’s favorite fruits, so we can hang these from our sukkah)
4-5pm Art and bruchot sign-making for the Sukkah! (Mollie and Marcy) Markers, cardstock, fun crafting items
5-5:30pm Dinner Prep with Marcy compostable dishes and flatware two old tablecloths, your own mugs and bowls
5:30-6pm Kosher Fleshig Dinner Potluck (with hot dogs to roast, felafel, pita, salad, tahini, and homemade pumpkin muffins, apples for snack, prepared dishes to pass, whole wheat bread with sunbutter and preserves)!
6-7pm Active all-ages Games! (Otto and Mollie) a rubber ball, a kerchief
7-8pm Havdalah, S’mores and Jewish ghost stories (not too scary) around the campfire! (we could use parent talent for this!) Smore fixings, Bring your havdalah sets, candles, grape juice, spices, phones, cool stories
8-9pm Flashlight reading and board games in the kids’ tents, bed!
9-10pm Sweet shirot around the fire, with warmed wine for adults, bed! Box of wine, pot to warm it over the fire! Rise Up songbook
7:00-8:30am Early Riser Walks and Ad-hoc yoga! (Parents) That special morning person who would like to lead yoga ad-hoc
8:30-9:15am Brekkie around the fire! (bring favorites– we’ll supply oatmeal, hot chocolate, (four gallons of milk and ground coffee, maple syrup, plus other goodies that can be eaten straight up or warmed over a fire in a pot that you bring )
9:15am-10am Israeli Dancing with Drake! Your “dancin’ shoes”/ comfortable shoes
10am- 11am Beit Sefer students meet in the barn! (Parents hang out, pack up, etc.) Pencil
11am- 11:30am Beit Sefer kids and families decorate the sukkah! **Option to help the AARC help spruce up Carol’s farm* More construction paper, garlands, glue, string and tape
11:30-noon Dedication and first shake of etrog and lulav in the Sukkah! etrog and lulav
Noon Goodbyes! *Option to help the AARC help spruce up Carol’s farm, Shmita celebration* Parents to join me in leaving
It is a summer of change and transition at AARC as we have said goodbye to Rabbi Ora and now our Beit Sefer Director, Clare Kinberg. As you may know, Clare is the publisher and editor of the Washtenaw Jewish News. In her short tenure as publisher and editor, Clare has taken the paper in a new direction that provides our community with critical insight into the local and wider Jewish community. In order to more fully support this effort, Clare has decided to pass on the directorship torch of the AARC’s Beit Sefer program.
But as they say, when one door closes, another one opens! The AARC leadership has encouraged us to use this year as one of growth and opportunity. Not just in terms of service leadership, but in terms of redefining what is important to us as a community and strengthening our community’s participation in their spiritual home. In line with this view, bringing in new leadership to our Beit Sefer program brings the opportunity to reinvigorate our program of learning for our young families. Although we cherished our time with Clare, we know that we will find new and bright opportunities for the years to come.
With that said, we invite you to spread the word about this job opportunity to your networks in the greater Jewish Ann Arbor area. The job posting is listed on our website HERE. As always, please let us know if you have any questions, and enjoy the photos below that spotlight the years of Clare’s heartfelt and inspiring leadership!
This is my seventh year as Beit Sefer director and I’m very excited to let the curriculum of the past years take a rest (it’s a shmita year after all) and plant some seeds of a new program that centers outdoor, environmental and experiential learning.
The Beit Sefer will still meet weekly on Sunday mornings, but one Sunday each month will meet out at Carole Caplan-Sosin’s farm on Jennings where we will learn Torah straight from nature. On the other Sundays we will focus on Hebrew, t’fila (prayer) and finishing our monthly creative projects begun out at the farm. Of course, stories and songs will round out each of our gatherings.
We will return to meeting at the JCC when we aren’t at the farm, but we will learn outside under the tents as long as possible, and in the spring, as soon as possible we’ll be outside again. At all times we will follow COVID safety measures, including wearing masks.
Last year, the AARC Beit Sefer/religious school spent a good deal of time learning on Zoom, but we also did many activities outdoors. It was inspiring to break down the walls. The contemporary movement for outdoor Jewish learning has created many resources: books, lesson plans, and curricula. “Hazon: The Jewish Lab for Sustainability” website has over 500 excellent lesson plans that use Jewish traditions, rituals, and texts to teach compassion for all life on earth and environmental responsibility. While our AARC Beit Sefer will not be inventing the wheel of Jewish environmental education, we will be creating a dynamic new program.
Over the course of the school year, we will visit The Farm on Jennings nine times, on the second Sunday of each month. Each month will have a different theme based on the yearly cycle of trees as taught in Rabbi Jill Hammer’s The Book of Days: A Companion for All Seasons. The themes of our Sundays at the farm will include “Seeds,” “Roots,” “Branches,” “Leaves,” “Flowers” and “Fruit” and each will include learning from a song, psalm or blessing, exploring fields, trees and crops on the land, and a creative craft or project.
Our Beit Sefer year will begin with a trip on August 29 to the Barn Sanctuary in Chelsea, a refuge for abused and neglected farm animals. Last year we did a virtual tour, and this year we will start off the year with an in person visit to celebrate, a bit late, Alef Elul, the first of Elul, which is the Jewish New Year for Animals where we learn deeper and deeper compassion for all creatures.
The full schedule for the AARC Beit Sefer will be available soon, as will an enrollment page on the AARC website. Please contact Clare Kinberg ckinberg@gmail.com with any questions.
How do I “recap” this year of Beit Sefer?
Thirty Sunday mornings filled with love says it for me. Our Beit Sefer teachers Marcy Epstein, Aaron Jackson, Shani Samuels and myself showed up every week filled with love for Judaism, for the students, and for each other.
We started off the year in the first week of Elul with love of animals and we ended on Shavuot with love of Torah and blintzes, and in between we learned about and celebrated every Jewish holiday.
Rabbi Ora met with the students every month to introduce some of our most precious Hebrew blessings and prayers. Our virtual Family Shabbat in April was a lovely culmination of our tefilah (prayer) learning for the year.
With Shani, we learned to write Hebrew alef-bet on the Zoom whiteboard. Marcy invited her students’ families into the Zoom room, and Aaron showed up every week with both his kids, Noah and Ava, brightening up every Zoom.
I thought to recap this year, I’d share images of the love we shared.
Oy, I’m Kvelling! AARC’s Beit Sefer students have been working very hard to prepare their contributions to this year’s student-led Kabbalat Shabbat Service. So do yourself a toyve and bring the whole mishpocha to services on Friday April 23rd, 6:30-7:30 pm, and watch these kids shine!
With the help of Rabbi Ora and our wonderful Beit Sefer teachers, each class will be responsible for leading the congregation in the evening’s songs and prayers. Everyone is welcome, and the extended family of Beit Sefer student’s are encouraged to attend! If you are not on our mailing list, please email aarcgillian@gmail.com for the Zoom link. We hope to see you Friday, April 23rd at 6:30pm!
